Under the Tree
by Initiate Six
Summary: Lilly and Miley spend Christmas Eve together. Fluffy PWP.


**I want to wish every single one of you a very Merry Christmas. You guys, the Liley community at large, are easily the kindest, most supportive bunch I've ever encountered on ffnet. Thank you all for some truly wonderful stories. **

**This fic is dedicated to all of you, and in particular Kurrent, LaughLoveLive, and cutflowers, my inspirations in the Liley community. If there's an author there you've never read, you are doing yourself an injustice. **

**Enjoy. Merry Christmas, from mine to yours.  
**

It was a cold breeze across her back that roused the sleeping blonde from her peaceful slumber. She came awake slowly, calmly, her body waking systematically while her eyes remained closed, enjoying the contrast of warmth against the front of her naked body and the cool breeze moving across her exposed back. She was dimly aware of bare skin pressed against her front, and her arm resting on something soft and fuzzy. Slowly, she opened her eyes, a soft smile already plastered on her face. The first thing she saw as her vision came into focus was a mass of curly brown hair.

Miley.

To say that Lillian Truscott was in perfect contentment this morning would be a complete understatement, and as she snuggled closer to the naked, sleeping form of her best friend, she reflected on what had happened the night before, reviewing each perfect moment leading to this morning.

**The night before...**

_It was Christmas Eve._

_Just that thought alone was enough to make Lilly break out into a silly grin. Christmas was absolutely her favorite day of the year, though to her, even as a child, it wasn't about the presents. She couldn't help but feel high from the feeling of warm happiness that coursed through her veins every year around the holidays, and that feeling always culminated on Christmas morning. And this year was, without question, the best of them all._

_This year, Robbie Ray and Jackson had taken a Christmas camping vacation, one that Miley had declined to go on, begging off with holiday homework and needing to catch up with Lilly. Despite their protests, Miley had managed to get them out of the house and on their way, knowing this was something her dad and brother had really been looking forward to. She, on the other hand, couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the holiday time with Lilly, who she hadn't seen since Thanksgiving. Though close by, they went to different colleges, with Miley studying music and business management at USC and Lilly taking pre-med courses at UCLA so she could study for a degree in Rehabilitative and Sports Medicine. Both of them were so busy that they generally didn't have much time to spend together._

_As Lilly's little blue VW Bug puttered along the PCH toward Malibu, her heart started to pound a little bit._

_Tonight, she was going to tell Miley how she felt._

**Christmas Morning – Present Time**

Lilly very carefully disentangled herself from Miley's arms and sat up, crossing her arms over her chest to protect against the breeze. She glanced around for a second before spotting Miley's oversized USC t-shirt and slipping it on. She paused a moment as she was suddenly surrounded by Miley's scent.

This was heaven, no doubt about it.

With a catlike purr, she stood and stretched out her tired muscles, looking around the Stewart living room as she did so. Nothing was really out of the ordinary, despite a few Christmas decorations here and there. She glanced down at her sleeping lover and smiled softly, her eyes glinting with open reverence. She half considered moving the sleeping brunette off the floor and to the couch, but decided against it. She'd be returning to sleep soon herself, and the floor was much more conducive to cuddling. Carefully, so as not to wake her sleeping lover, she slipped a blanket off the back of the nearby couch and covered Miley, tucking the blanket up to her chin. Satisfied, she stepped away from her and started to pick up what little mess they had made last night. As she cleared two unfinished mugs of hot chocolate from the coffee table, she let her mind slip back to the night before.

**The night before...**

_She arrived relatively late to the Stewart residence, though she had told Miley to expect as much. She had made the obligatory stop at her grandmother's house to visit with her family as they had their traditional Christmas Eve Chinese dinner. By the time she had gotten away, and declined more egg rolls from her grandmother, it was already approaching ten o'clock. She pulled into Miley's driveway at 10:15 on the dot and found she couldn't contain her excitement anymore. She practically barreled up to the door, Miley's gift safe in her pocket. Taking a second to catch her breath and reorder imaginary stray hairs, she stood at the door for a moment, reflecting on how many times she'd stood here over the years. It was interesting how this simple doorway could hold so many memories, but here, knowing that things were about to change completely, she couldn't help but be almost overwhelmed by the emotions and memories this single door held._

_Composing herself, laughing slightly at herself, she knocked confidently on the door. No sooner had it swung open to reveal her best friend, clad in an oversized USC t-shirt and flannel pajama pants, that she found herself with an armful of Miley, her best friend having exuberantly thrown herself at a very surprised Lilly._

_"Holy crap, Lilly!" Miley exclaimed, "You don't even know how much I missed you!"_

_Lilly laughed, joy evident on her face as she hugged Miley back tightly._

_"Right back at you, Miles," she said into luscious brown locks._

_They held each other for a few moments longer before Miley stepped back, her smile reaching all the way up to her eyes._

_"I'm sorry, but a whole month is way too long," she said as she led Lilly inside, "No matter how awesome he is, Oliver just isn't a good girl friend."_

_This got a laugh out of Lilly, who imagined Oliver sitting boredly as Miley tried on shirt after shirt, rolling his eyes every time she rejected one and looking hopeful every time she added one to the "buy" pile._

_"I can only imagine," she replied as she closed the door behind her._

_"Wow," she said as she took everything in, "you guys went all out this year. You even got a full size tree!"_

_"Yeah," Miley said with a grin, "I cut it this year, so it was even from the first try. We had to move the piano to storage for a few weeks to fit everything, but it was worth it."_

_And worth it it was. The tree stood an imposing nine feet, covered top to bottom in colorful decorations and lights. Beneath the tree, and behind it, and to the sides, were mounds upon mounds of presents._

_Lilly raised an eyebrow at the number of presents, to which Miley snorted._

_"Since we had a normal sized tree for once, Daddy insisted we keep all the presents under there until Christmas morning, even the ones for the Tennessee clan."_

_Lilly nodded at this and continued to look around the room, suddenly huge with the absence of the piano. Robbie Ray had indeed gone all out this year, with white icicle lights wrapped around the railing of the stairs, and more icicles over the door out to the porch. Tacky little Christmas statues were everywhere, snowmen and Santa and reindeer adorning all the flat surfaces in the living room and kitchen. In front of the tree was spread a large bear fur rug, one she'd never seen before._

_"Where you guys get the rug," she asked as she bent down to run her fingers through the soft, curly fur._

_"Mamaw sent it up," Miley replied as she made her way to the kitchen, "Uncle Earl got himself a bear this year and she had it skinned and turned into a rug, which of course he didn't care about, so we got it. I kinda like it."_

_"It's so soft," Lilly said, "I wouldn't mind sleeping on this."_

_Miley didn't respond, deciding instead to observe her friend through eyes darkened by desire as Lilly continued to poke about the room, examining the various decorations._

**Present Time**

Lilly finished cleaning their cocoa mugs and set them to dry while Miley slept on. Lilly couldn't blame her either; she was still feeling a bit worn out. But now that she was up, she decided she'd have to honor one of her usual Christmas traditions. Toweling off her hands, she stepped quietly through the living room and out the back door onto the porch. It was still early, and the sun was only just rising over the ocean. Some people associate Christmas morning with a blanket of fresh snow, or a cacophony of children rushing to their presents, but for Lilly, nothing was more about Christmas morning than watching the pacific sunrise. Every year, as the sun rose and began to peek out over the mountains, allowing rays of sunlight to bounce off of the deep blue of the ocean, she stopped and took stock of the past year, her ups and her downs and the things that had helped to shape her into who she was now, in the face of the new year.

This year, there was only one thing on her mind.

Miley.

**The night before...**

_Not long after Lilly's arrival, the two young women found themselves curled up on Miley's couch, covered by a Christmas-themed blanket and cradling mugs of Loco Hot Cocoa as Rudolf danced merrily on the television screen. Miley was resting her head comfortably on Lilly's shoulder, and Lilly had her arm around Miley, her hand cradling the brunette's arm. They had fallen into this position the moment they sat down and had been content to just enjoy each other's company as they mindlessly watched Christmas specials._

_An hour into Rudolf, Miley slowly sat up and disentangled herself from Lilly and the blanket._

_"I want to get your present," she said by way of explanation, "I can't wait til morning to give it to you." Then she bounded up the stairs with all the excitement of a little girl._

_Lilly set down her mug of cocoa and extracted herself from the blanket as well. If Miley wanted to exchange gifts now, she could deal with that. It would be the perfect opportunity to tell her..._

_Well, to tell her everything._

_She quickly made a beeline for her bag, which contained the pants she'd arrived in. She'd since changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top. She rooted through her pockets for a few moments before emerging victorious with a single plastic card adorned with an oversized bow, hiding the face of the card. Grinning, she returned to the couch, covering herself back up and retrieving her mug. Moments later, Miley came back down the stairs and planted herself on the couch, cross-legged and facing Lilly. Smiling, Lilly set her mug down and turned to mirror Miley._

_"So," Miley began, a happy grin nearly hiding the nervousness in her eyes, which made Lilly all the more curious, "I really couldn't decide what to get you this year. I went from store to store to store, even did some online shopping, but nothing really jumped out at me."_

_She paused for a second, looking down at the small wrapped box in her hands. When she looked back up, she had a couple of unshed tears in her eyes._

_"Then I got to thinking about the past six months, since we started school, and I realized that we never get to see each other. So I decided that this year, I was going to tap into the Hannah fund and do something really special."_

_She took a deep breath, then thrust the box out toward Lilly, who took it carefully, a very serious look on her face. This was going to be interesting. She held the box gingerly, setting it in her lap as she reached under the blanket._

_"Before I open yours, then, I want to give you mine, because I'm sure it'll be simple by comparison," she said as she brought out the card and held it out to Miley._

_Miley took it, grinning at the silliness of the bow, which was many times bigger than the card. Still smiling, she removed the bow and immediately sucked in a breath. The card was a key card to Lilly's UCLA dorm._

_"I have a friend in the tech department," Lilly said by way of explanation, "I guess I owe him big for this one, but I thought this might help get us together more often."_

_The tears that had been in Miley's eyes not moment earlier returned, and she sniffled a bit as she held the card close to her heart._

_"Don't cry," Lilly said, reaching over and resting a hand on Miley's shoulder, "It's really not that big of a deal."_

_Miley shook her head and took a second to regain control of herself._

_"It's not that. It's just...Kinda a coincidence that you gave me this card."_

_"A coincidence?" Lilly asked, curious._

_"Open your gift," Miley said, "you'll see why."_

_Lilly picked the small wrapped box back up and, with no hesitation, tore open the wrapping. Inside was a plain white box. She slid the top off and peeked in. Resting in the box, with little fanfare and no decoration, was a little gold key._

_"A key?" She asked, "I thought your dorms used cards like mine."_

_Miley nodded. "They do. That key is to a house, a few miles away from the UCLA campus."_

_Lilly's eyes widened. "You bought your own house?" She exclaimed._

_Miley shook her head lightly._

_"No," she said, "I bought _us_ a house." Then she ducked her head down, her cheeks turning red._

_Lilly sat in stunned silence for a moment, a little shocked over this. A house? That was a really big deal. Did Miley want her to move in? What did that mean?_

_Miley was still looking down in embarrassment, twiddling her thumbs to try to expel her nerves. She was about to look up and say something, anything, when she felt Lilly lean across the bit of couch between them and hug her tightly._

_"Thank you," Lilly whispered into her ear, "You don't know how much this means to me."_

_They held the hug for a few moments longer, and for some inexplicable reason, Lilly could feel her heart hammering against her chest._

_Slowly, almost agonizingly slow, she pulled away from Miley just enough to look straight into her eyes. Years later, when asked about that moment, Lilly would say that she couldn't put it into words. In truth, no words were spoken between the two, but a moment of complete understanding passed between them, and at the same moment they leaned toward each other._

_The moment their lips touched, a flood of emotions tore through Lilly's system. She felt at once electrified, energized, but at the same time, completely relaxed and comfortable. She was flying, floating, soaring. She was breathless, like she'd run a marathon. She felt equal parts love, excitement, and contentment._

_She was home._

_That was the only way to describe it. If she had any doubts about her feelings for Miley before that moment, they were erased._

_There were no words spoken as they stood, Miley taking Lilly's hand and leading her over to the tree, to the soft fur rug at the base. They were silent as they slowly undressed each other, reverently touching and examining each other as they did so._

_They were silent still as Lilly laid Miley down on the carpet and placed a simple kiss on her lips._

_The silence didn't last long._

**Present Time**

Lilly slipped quietly back into the house, her step light and her heart filled with complete joy. There was no doubt for either of them that this was right, this was how it was supposed to be. After Christmas vacation, Lilly would be moving out of her dorm and into the little single-floor home that Miley had bought near the campus. At the end of the year, Miley would be transferring to UCLA.

Everything was perfect.

But for now, Lilly pushed thoughts of the future out of her mind. Stripping off Miley's oversized USC shirt, she pulled the covers back off of her best friend, her lover, and laid down next to her on the soft bear fur, then tucked the covers around them tightly.

The movement woke Miley, who turned to face Lilly with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey," she said, accent thick with sleep, her voice taking on a smoky hue, "It was cold without you."

Lilly leaned into Miley, planting a soft kiss on her lips. "I couldn't sleep, so I did the dishes and watched the sun come up."

"Yeah?" Miley said, snuggling into Lilly, "what do you think about sleeping in a bit?"

"I think that would be perfect."

Lilly curled herself into Miley's body, an arm across her lovers chest as she closed her eyes and sighed contentedly.

"Miley?"

"Yeah?"

"Merry Christmas."


End file.
